To be a professional in the Environmental, Occupational Health, Safety and Security Career field is not something to be taken lightly. Professionals in this career field have to have a caring mentality about them. I personally am very lucky to love what I do for a career and take it very personally. I truly believe that it is possible for a culture to exist where people do not get injured by simply going into their profession.

Injuries in the workplace cost American companies billions of dollars every year. According to OSHA, it is estimated that employers spend 1 billion dollars a week on workers compensation costs in the United States. That is just the money going towards workers compensation. There are also costs that come from the days that injured employees miss work. Injuries and accidents that force injured employees to miss at least six days of work cost employers in the United States about 62 billion dollars a year.

Most truths about communication are timeless. With all the cultural and political tension we observe today it might seem this was written as a response to that tension. However, in fact, it is one more look into how to be the most effective safety motivational speaker possible. So how important is it to be politically correct?

Winter across the world brings with it a variety of weather conditions. From the biting cold, snow, rain and wind of the Northern Hemisphere to the scorching temperatures and humidity of the Southern Hemisphere, it pays to be fully prepared for this winter season.

For many years I worked as someone who came into a company or organization which was in serious risk of going under. It seemed strange to me that almost without exception there was a significant resistance to making change / improvement in a culture that most all thought to be terminally sick.

For a recent job assignment I was driving from Copper Mountain, Colorado to Denver, Colorado to catch a flight to the Pacific Northwest. As I prepared to leave, with a significant amount of spare time to make this important flight, I checked the internet for road conditions.

OSHA’s recent decision to delay the effective date of its controversial beryllium exposure rule has generated a lot of attention in the industrial safety media, and rightly so. The beryllium rule is a perfect example of the government overreach that industry often highlights: policies made with good intentions that go beyond their stated goal.

Last Christmas, I gave my husband Steve a page-a-day calendar with Insights from the Dalai Lama. Occasionally, Steve shares one of these daily insights with me.

Rob Archer, Director at LPP Consulting, kicked off 3M’s Safety Network Live in Bracknell (UK) on 27 September with a fascinating talk about stress and resilience – which featured the inner chimp, sex and bananas.